Wolf Pack basketball team develops toughness, character through brutal honesty

Nevada guard Mike Perez (23), show driving against Air Force at Lawlor Event Center on Feb. 1. Perez said of the players’ willingness to challenge each other, “We have to. We’re a family. We’re going to get on each other.”(Photo: Tom Smedes/Special to the RGJ)

LAS VEGAS – There have been plenty of moments in this Nevada basketball season when players have looked at each other with furrowed brows and puzzled looks. At times it has led to a short conversation with an elevated tone.

Such near confrontations could deteriorate and become a team cancer. For the Wolf Pack, they seem to have given the players a boost.

You could even make the case that this team wouldn't be where it is – the No. 3 seed in this week's Mountain West Conference Tournament thanks to three key victories in its final four games after a five-game losing streak – had they not had their Jerry Springer moments.

"Like I tell the guys all the time about criticism, 'You've got to be able to take it. You've got to understand everyone is in it to win it,'" coach David Carter said.

The Wolf Pack received a first-round bye and will play at 8:30 p.m. Thursday against the winner of tonight's game between sixth-seeded Boise State and 11th-seeded San Jose State. All games are at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Often times the exchanges have involved A.J. West, the 6-foot-9 forward who became eligible midway through the season and is in his first year at the Division I level. At times, the junior college transfer has been out of position, and coach David Carter has said that's not uncommon for a player who is making the jump from JC to Division I and who didn't get the opportunity to gain experience in preseason, non-conference games.

Carter said Monday that West might have hit a wall in recent weeks.

"He wants to do everything I ask him to do, but sometimes there's another team out there," Carter said of West. "There's a lot of strategy. Junior college is a little different. There you play a 2-3 zone, you don't really scout the opponent. You pretty much worry about yourself. (At the Division I level) you have to know what you're opponent is doing, what individuals are doing against you. You're playing against better players. There's a lot of things thrown at him. It could be overwhelming. …

"(First-year players) always seem to kind of hit a wall then bounce back. I think his confidence is still there."

West had two points, three rebounds and two blocks in just nine minutes in Nevada's 76-72 win over UNLV on Saturday, partly because senior forward Ali Fall, whose mother made the trip from their native Senegal for senior day, had perhaps his best game this season.

Fall played 21 minutes, scoring six points on 3-of-5 shooting, grabbed three rebounds and was very active defensively against a big and talented UNLV front court. Fall forced an offensive foul on the Rebels' Christian Wood right after Nevada had taken a 72-70 lead late in the game.

"It was huge," Burton said of Fall's efforts. "I've known Ali for two years. I've known what he's capable of. He's had an injury (knee and ankle) that's bothered him. He's had it the whole season. But he played unbelievably against UNLV on Saturday night. We need that from him in tournament play."

It says a lot that teammates like Burton, Jerry Evans Jr., and Mike Perez, especially, have felt comfortable enough to be the coach on the court and get in someone's grill, whether it be West or someone else.

The most animated exchange this season involved Burton and Perez and occurred last week in the team's 83-81 double-overtime victory at Boise State.

Following a second-half turnover that was part of a Bronco rally, a visibly frustrated Burton yelled at Perez. Perez gave it right back in an exchange that lasted maybe 3 or 4 seconds.

A short time later, after Boise State had turned a 14-point Nevada lead into a five-point Bronco lead, the Wolf Pack had its own rally. And after the Broncos' Thomas Bropleh hit a 30-footer at the buzzer to force a second overtime, the Wolf Pack didn't collapse, instead rallying again to get what was arguably the most important victory of the season.

A thinner-skinned group might not have been able to win that game.

"It wakes them up a little bit. It wakes me up," Burton said that night, March 5, at Boise. "We're family here."

Perez, who transferred from UTEP before the 2012-13 season, said the players' willingness to give and take has helped this team become resilient and tough, something it will need if it hopes to make a run at a MWC Tournament title.

"We have to (be able to be critical)," said Perez, who as a D-I transfer sat out last season and watched a dysfunctional Wolf Pack struggle. "We're a family. We're going to get on each other. We're going to get upset. (Burton) thought I was wrong. I thought he was wrong. It's just something that happened on the court. We learned from it, and we got better throughout the game. Nobody got any feelings hurt."

MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL

All games at Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas

MEN'S TOURNAMENT

Today

Game 1: No. 8 Utah State vs. No. 9 Colorado State, 2 p.m.

Game 2: No. 7 Fresno State vs. No. 10 Air Force, 4:30 p.m.

Game 3: No. 6 Boise State vs. No. 11 San Jose State, 7 p.m.

Thursday

Game 4: No. 1 San Diego State vs. Game 1 winner, noon

Game 5: No. 4 UNLV vs. No. 5 Wyoming, 2:30 p.m.

Game 6: No. 2 New Mexico vs. Game 2 winner, 6 p.m.

Game 7: No. 3 Nevada vs. Game 3 winner, 8:30 p.m.

Friday

Game 8: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, 6 p.m.

Game 9: Winner Game 6 vs. Winner Game 7, 8:30 p.m.

Saturday

Game 10: Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 9, 3 p.m.

TV: Games 1-3 are online on the Mountain West Network (NevadaWolfPack.TV); Games 4-9 are on CBS Sports Network; Game 10 is CBS.

Radio: All Nevada games will be on 94.5 FM, beginning 30 minutes before tipoff.